100 Murder Cases Shifted From UP Judge After 22 Death Sentences

Around 100 murder cases pending before Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar at a fast-track court in Muzaffarnagar have been transferred to another court after he sentenced 22 people to death in 10 cases over the past four months. The cases, involving offences punishable by death or life imprisonment, have been moved to the court of District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh, according to a government counsel. The development comes amid concerns among lawyers and litigants over the possibility of capital punishment being awarded in cases pending before Judge Diwakar.

District Bar Association president Pramod Tyagi said there was apprehension among lawyers and litigants regarding the judge's approach to cases involving serious offences. Judge Diwakar, 46, is a resident of Lucknow and began his judicial career as an additional civil judge in Azamgarh in 2009. He was later elevated as a civil judge in Sultanpur in May 2015 and became a judicial magistrate around five months later. He has been serving as an additional district and sessions judge in Muzaffarnagar since November 2025.

Judge Diwakar has delivered a series of death sentences in high-profile murder cases in recent months. On August 13, he sentenced four people to death for the 2014 murder of Pawan Kumar in Shamli district. On August 12, he awarded the death penalty to Shahnawaz for kidnapping and killing wood trader Saleem for ransom in a case dating back to 1999. Earlier, on July 17, four men were sentenced to death for the 2011 murder of farmer Raj Singh during an attempted robbery in Shamli, while another two accused were given the death penalty on July 6 in a 2010 murder linked to rivalry over village panchayat elections.

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The court also awarded the death penalty in several other cases. On July 2, a man was sentenced to death for killing home guard Ratiram while he was on duty in 2020. On June 20, two people were sentenced to death for the murder of Rajendra Saini. On May 30, a 50-year-old man was awarded capital punishment for the 2011 murders of a woman and her six-year-old son. In April, a woman and her three sons were sentenced to death in a 2019 murder case, while three people were given the death penalty for the kidnapping and murder of lawyer Mohammad Sameer over an alleged monetary dispute.

Judge Diwakar is also known for his involvement in the 2022 Gyanvapi case, when he ordered a videography survey of the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi. With a BCom and LLM degree, he has built a reputation for delivering strong verdicts during his judicial career. In several of the recent murder cases, he held that the circumstances met the legal threshold of the “rarest of rare” category, which is required for imposing the death penalty under Indian law. The sentences, however, remain subject to the established judicial process and legal remedies available to the convicted persons.

The transfer of around 100 cases now places the pending matters before District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh. The cases reportedly include murder matters and other serious offences carrying the possibility of life imprisonment or capital punishment. The development follows a period in which Judge Diwakar's court delivered an unusually high number of death sentences in a short span. The transfer is expected to shift the handling of these pending cases while the earlier convictions and sentences remain subject to the applicable appellate and judicial procedures.

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